Asphalt oxidation



Nov. 16, 1937. P. MCNEIL ET AL 2,099,448

v ASPHALT OXIDATION Filed Dec. 18, 1929 2 Sheets-Sheet l v T teambqat or Condenser n l0 Hof Resduumlveeal 11 lfljgl Steam Inzet Uen bo .Air

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Patented Nov. 16, 1937 l UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE ASPHALT OXIDATION Claude P. McNeil, Whiting, Ind., and Samuel A. Montgomery, Wood River, Ill., assignors to Standard Oil Company, Chicago, Ill., a corporation of Indiana Application December 18, 1929, Serial No. 415,096

5 Claims. (Cl. 196-74) This invention relates to asphalt oxidation and l The hot residuum is introduced through valved it` pertains more particularly to an apparatus inlet pipe Ill to the top of tower II, which, as and a process for preparing blown asphalt by oxshown in the drawings, is relatively small in diidizing petroleum residuums. v ameter as compared with its height; a tall tower The 'object of the invention is to continuously being required in order that the desired oxygen- 5 oxidze hot petroleum residuums, also called utilization may be secured. Y resids, by the count'ercurrent application of air. The tower II is preferably supported by a A further object is to stabilize the temperature bracket I2 mounted on the foundation I3 of conthroughout'the reaction Achambery and to utilize crete or other equivalent material. It is prefer-A effectively the oxygencontent of the air by conably surrounded by an insulating cylinder or 10 tacting partially-oxidized asphalt with fresh air chimney I4 which is supported and spaced in any and by contacting depleted air with fresh hot conventional manner. residuums. n The tower Il may be provided with perforated A further object is to provide an asphalt oxidabaille plates I5. Instead of perforated plates we tion tower which is divided into oxidizing and sepmay use disc-and-doughnut ballies, bubble plates l5 arating sections by placing the air-introducing 0r any conventional means for obtaining intimate means at a pointspaced from the bottom of the contact of the air with the descending liquid. tower.I A further object is to provide an im- Bailles may be entirely dispensed with when air proved apparatus, tower structure, and arrangeremains intimately mixed with the asphalt withso ment of towers for effectively carrying out the out them. improved process. Air is introduced into the tower by a valved Other objects will become apparent as the deair-supply'pipe I6 and is introduced into the scription of the invention proceeds. liquid by a diffuser I1.

The invention contemplates a continuous proc- When it is necessary to supply external heat,

ess wherein hot petroleum residuums are introgaseous or liquid fuel may be introduced through duced into the top of a tower and are permitted valved pipe I9 to a burner I9a which is interto ow downwardly by gravity against a current posed between the cylinder I4 and tower II. Or-

of air.' which is introduced at a point above the dinarily, in a tower of suflicient height the oxybottom of the tank and which is buoyed upwardly genis almost completely utilized so that there by the hot liquid. The gas carried below the is no danger of explosion or combustion in the top air inlet is separated from the hot liquid near the of the tower. As an added precaution, we probase of the tower and is buoyed upwardly to supvld'ea valved steam inlet l2li at the top of the plement the air in agitating and oxidizing the .tower so that a blanket of steam may be used liquid to form asphalt. The tower is preferably above the liquid in the tower. t l' about thirty or forty feet tall, so that 'the oxy- The yoxidized material whi h is moving down- 35 gen is almost completely utilized. A series of -wardlyln the tower ilnally moves below the diftowers can be used to obtain asphalt .of any defuser I1 to a quiescent portlonof the tower lwheresired characteristics, the liquid being pumped in the liquid asphalt is separated from the gases, from the base of one tower to thetop of the next. that portion of the tower between the ydiffuser i 40 The invention will be more clearly' understood and tower bottom being lin efiect a sepa-ration 40 from the following detailed description. chamber.

A preferred embodiment is shown yin the acpipe 2l secured to the bottom 'o1 tower lIl companying drawings, wherein similarparts are ,discharges the "blown asphalt throughfvalvefn designated by similarl reference characters, and and pipev 23 or through valve '24 andv pipe25.

' lPipe 2'3 is usually used for draining thetower, the 45 wherein: l t f l H Figure 1 is a diagrammatic elevation partly in usual outlet during continuous operation"being section showing a. single tower unit and through pipe r25 and valves'y 25, `21 and/or'128 to Figure 2 is a modiiication showing a series of pipe '29 leadingfto storage tank 30." It willfbe towers. observed that' pipev 25 extendsverticallybeside V e hot residuum or hot resid may be the pipe tower Il and thatfpipe-29 is close to 'and sub-.- 50 still bottoms from petroleum distillation or'may stantially Vparallel-i.with it. By lmeans-of valves be any similar materialwhich is capable of oxi- 26, 21, and 2.8, weeiectively regulate the depth dation in the apparatus and in themanner de'- of liquid'in tower lI-I. i

scribed. 1n the .preferred embodiment, is' 15% A en a Asum1! Vquantity is 0 beoxidizslnitiay pipe still bottoms of Mid-.Continent crude is used. be ,su fllcient to an operating depth about onethird the height of the tower in which case valve 26 would be open to continuously discharge the oxidized product. If a greater effective depth is required in tower valve 26 is closed and valve 21 is opened, and if a maximum depth is required valves 26 and 21 are closed and valve 28 is opened. The proper manipulation of these valves will be apparent to those skilled in the art.

Vapors are removed from the tower I I through a conduit 3| which discharges into a condenser.

or steam boat of conventional construction'. Asphalt storage tank 30 is vented by pipe 32 and pipe 29 is preferably open at its upper end in order to break any Siphon that might otherwise be formed.

'Ihe operation of the above modification is obvious. The 15% pipe still bottoms (Mid-Continent crude) is introduced through pipe ||l` preferably at a temperature between 300 and 550 F. Air is introduced through diffuser |1 and it thoroughly oxidizes and agitates the residuum in its countercurrent passage to the top of the tower where it is drawn oi with produced and volatilized gases through conduit 3|. At the base of the tower the liquid is separated from the gas and is withdrawn through pipe .2| and valve 24, pipe 25 and valve 26, 21 or 28 to pipe 29 Aand tank 30. The use of top steam and external heat is usually not necessary but these means should be incorporated in the structure to take care of unusual conditions.

Referring to Figure 2, we provide a modified tower 33 which is preferably surrounded by an 'insulating jacket 34, steam coils 35 or electric heating means being interposed between said tower and saidjacket. Air from pipe I6 may be supplied in regulated amounts through valve 36 and pipe 31 to diiuser 38 which is spaced from the bottom of tower 33 and which is designed to inject air into the hot liquid in fine small bubbles for effecting agitation and oxidation.

Discharge pipe 2| leads through valve 39 and pipe 49 to a suitable storage tank or through valve 4|, pump 42, and conduit 43, to the top of tower 44 which is surrounded by jacket 45 and heated by steam coils 46 or equivalent means.

Air is admitted to tower 44 through valve 41, pipe 48, and diiuser 49, which is spaced from the bottom of the tower as shown in the drawings.

The outlet 2| from tower 45 is connected through valve 5|) and pipe 5| to a storage tank (not shown) or through valve 52 and pipe 53 to another tower similar to those hereinabove described. The depleted air, gases and vapors are removed from the top of each tower through pipes 3| and 54 respectively to a suitable scrubber;

The operationr of this modication is as follows:

Hot residuum, which may be 15% pipe still bottoms `(Mid-Continent crude), is introduced through'rvalved inlet |0 to the top of tower 33. Air from diiuser 38 blows the hot residuum to a foam whereby it is eiectivelyl agitated and oxidized.:V particular form` of the invention makesuse of the ,fact thata small quantity of water jcauseshot residuum tofoam into innumerable-'iine bubbles. '.The oxidation of the` asphalt probably` brings about. the ,synthesis i of `minute quantities of'water 'which'.'produces anI even distribution v'of airy and liquid by causing theliquid `to foam. This foam is relatively `permanent inthe upper port-ion" of thetowe'rywherein oxidation is conti"nuously taking! placeifthoughout ,they extremely; arg?, surface areasfjof` contact @between message; .f

The oxidized asphalt is separated from these gases in the lower portion of the tower below the diiuser, the gases from this separating chamber being buoyed upwardly to supplement the injected air in the treatment of incoming residuum.

If one tower treatment is suflicient, valves 4I can be closed and the blown asphalt can be removed through valve 39 and pipe 40 to storage. If further treatment is necessary valve 39 should be closed and 4| opened, the asphalt being forced by pump 42 to the top of tower 44 where it undergoes further oxidation as hereinabove described. Any number of towers can be used in series in this manner.

We have not stated specific volumes of air or temperatures because these features form no part of our present invention and are well understood by those skilled in the art. The rate of feed of residuum may be regulated to introduce a volume equivalent to the volume of the tank in one hour when the reaction temperature is about 550 F. or we may introduce that volume in two hours when the temperature is 450 to 500 F., using about 10 or 15 cubic feet of air per gallon of residuum treated. 'Ihe rate of ow of residuum, rate of introduced air, and temperatures are dependent upon the charging stock and upon the nished product desired. Our invention is applicable to all variations of these conditions.

While we have described certain preferred embodiments of our invention, it is understood that we are not limited to the details therein set forth except as dened by the following claims:

We claim:

1. A continuous process for treating petroleum base material to lblow the same, which consists in causing said material to flow downwardly through an obstructed chamber, interrupting the descent of the material by collecting it into a series of progressively arranged pools within the chamber, continuously introducing a volume of air into said chamber for contact with the material under treatment, withdrawing the vapors resulting from the reaction, and continuously withdrawing the asphaltic material after the same has been subjected to contact with the air.

2. The process of continuously producing blown asphalt which comprises introducing petroleum base material into a reaction zone, causing the material to be formed into a plurality of spaced.

pools and to ow from pool to pool, introducing a stream of oxidizing gas into the zone and causing said gas to flow through the material in the pools.

3. The process of continuously producing blown asphalt which comprises introducing petroleum base material into a reaction zone, causing the material to be formed into a plurality of spaced pools and to ow from pool to pool, introducing a stream of oxidizing gas into the zone and causing said gas to flow through the material in the pools and counter-current to the flow of the material through the zone.

4. The process of continuously producing blown asphalt which comprises introducing petroleum base material intov a reaction zone, causingthe material to be formed into a plurality o1' spaced pools'and to flow progressively from pool to pool,

and' controlling the temperature of the reaction zone independently of the temperatures of the btroleum base material and oxidizing gas enterasphalt which. comprises introducing petroleum ing the zone.

CLAUDE P. McNEn.. SAMUEL A. MONTGOMERY. 

